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STEAM 

COMMUNICATION 

/^ 

BETWEEN 

§m 

iutduM 

Ell 

CpIE. 

JOHlf  W. 

AuBBUAK,  Printer,  No.  41 

Cedar-street,  N.  Y. 

^  43    (  6  c^ 


STEAM  GOMMUNICATIOX  BETWEEN  SAN  FRANCISCO 
AND  CHINA. 

At  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  New-York,  September  G, 
1860,  the  following  resolution  wa3  adopted  : 

"  Resolved,  That,  in  the  judgment  of  this  Chamber,  an  urgent  necessity  exists  for  the 
establishment,  at  an  early  day,  of  mail  facilities  between  the  Cities  of  Sa7i  Francisco,  in 
California,  and  Shanghai,  in  China,  with  connections  at  tuck  inteiinediate  ports  as  the 
interests  of  commerce  may  indicate" 

The  following  gentlemen  were,  at  the  same  meeting,  appointed  a  special  committee, 
with  instructions  to  report,  at  the  October  meeting  of  the  Chamber,  the  draft  of  a 
memorial  to  Congress,  asking  for  the  establishment  of  mail  facilities  between  Cali- 
fornia and  China,  viz. : 

A.  A.  Low,  {Chairman,)  Royal  Phelps,  Fletcher  Westray,  Prosper  M.  Wetmore, 
George  Opdyke,  Wm.  T.  Coleman,  Joseph  S.  Allen. 

At  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  on  the  4th  of  October 
the  chairman  of  the  above  committee  reported  the  following  as  the  form  of  a  me- 
morial to  Congress  on  the  subject.  The  report  was  accepted,  and  the  memorial 
ordered  to  be  printed  for  the  use  of  the  members. 

J.  Smith  Homans,  Secretary. 


Memorial  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  State  of  New- York. 

To   the  honorable   the   Senate   and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled  : 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  State  of  New- York,  representing 
the  foreign  and  domestic  trade  of  this  city,  -whose  members  are  largely 
interested  in  its  shipping,  would  respectfully  submit  to  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  that,  in  the  judgment  of 
this  Chamber,  an  extension  of  the  postal  facilities  of  this  country  is  alike 
necessary  to  the  full  success  of  its  commerce,  and  to  the  maintenance  of 
its  high  position  among  the  maritime  nations  of  the  world. 

Your  memorialists  can  recall  the  time,  within  a  short  term  of  years, 
when  the  several  lines  of  packet  ships  sailing  out  of  the  port  of  New- 
York  had  almost  exclusive  control  of  the  valuable  traflRc  between  this 
and  the  principal  seaports  of  Great  Britain  and  France ;  and  they  have 


Y.V,/. 
4  Steam  Co7nmunication 

lived  to  see  tlie  noble  vessels,  wliicli  once  stood  so  high  in  the  estimation 
of  the  traveller,  and  whicli  bore  to  our  stores  the  most  costly  merchan- 
dise, degraded  to  the  service  of  the  emigrant,  to  the  carrying  of  coal, 
crockery  and  iron,  and  the  bulky  products  of  our  own  soil. 

The  loss  to  our  sailing  packets  of  the  valuable  trade  of  which  they 
were  once  the  unrivalled  possessors,  is  traceable  primarily  to  the  intro- 
duction, under  the  fostering  care  of  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  of 
a  line  of  steamers  from  the  port-  of  Liverpool  to  Boston,  via  Halifax, 
some  twenty  years  ago.  Indeed,  with  the  first  application  of  steam  to 
ocean  navigation,  the  British  government  inaugurated  that  system  of 
mail  communication  with  this  country,  which  has  never  failed  of  the  sup- 
port necessary  to  its  full  establishment  and  permanent  existence. 

The  vessels  first  employed  shortly  gave  place  to  others,  larger  and 
more  powerful;  and,  aided  by  subsidy  after  subsidy,  they  were  soon 
enabled  to  defy  competition,  not  only  in  the  carrying  of  the  mails  and 
of  first  class  passengers,  but  in  the  transportation  of  the  rich  fabrics  of 
England,  France  and  continental  Europe — all  the  costly  merchandise  which 
is  excluded  from  sailing  vessels  by  the  length  and  uncertainty  of  the  voyage, 
and  by  the  higher  rates  of  insurance.  Once  firmly  established  upon  the  North 
Atlantic,  the  same  system  has  been  enlarged  and  extended  to  other  coun- 
tries ;  to  the  West  Indies ;  to  the  east  and  west  coasts  of  South  America ; 
to  Africa ;  to  the  North  and  Baltic  Seas ;  through  the  whole  course  of 
the  Mediterranean  and  the  Ked  Sea ;  to  the  principal  ports  in  India ; 
across  the  Indian  Ocean  to  Singapore ;  and  along  the  coast  of  China  to 
the  islands  of  the  East  and  to  Australia.  It  has  been  carried  and  con- 
tinued through  all  seasons  and  through  all  climes,  rearing  a  class  of  sea- 
men inured  as  well  to  the  heats  and  tempests  of  the  Torrid  Zone  as  to  the 
cold,  rough  gales  of  the  Northern  winter  ;  and,  wherever  the  mail  steamer 
has  gone,  and  whence  it  has  come,  by  a  law  which  was  manifest  on  the 
scene  of  its  first  triumph,  the  most  valuable  trade  has  followed  in  its 
course.  Not  only  do  the  raw  silks  and  the  costly  drugs  of  India  and 
China  reach  their  destination  by  Oriental  and  Peninsular  mail  steamers, 
but  travellers,  the  men  of  wealth  and  the  men  of  leisure — the  merchant 
and  the  tradesman — all  who  value  time  and  punctuality,  seek  the  shores 
of  England,  in  going  to  or  returning  from  the  various  regions  to  which 
the  government  of  that  country  has  so  wisely  opened  the  way.  And,  at 
this  very  day,  the  American  merchant,  dependent  upon  the  postal  facili- 
ties afibrded  by  his  enterprising  rival,  opens  his  correspondence,  and 
studies  out  the  wants  of  most  of  the  populous  countries  named,  from  two 
to  three  weeks  after  they  have  become  known  to  his  vigorous  competi- 
tors on  the  other  side  of  the  water. 


Between  San  Francisco  and  China.  5 

Under  the  patronage  of  lier  Britannic  Majesty's  government,  your  me- 
morialists have  seen  the  steamers  of  her  mercantile  marine  so  increased 
in  number,  as  to  preserve,  unimpaired,  a  mail  service,  which,  for  safety  and 
regularity,  has  excited  the  admiration  of  the  world ;  while  it  has  spared, 
for  the  emcBgencies  of  war,  most  of  the  transports  that  were  needed  to 
carry  an  invading  army  to  the  Crimea ;  and  shortly  afterwards,  with  a 
rapidity  unknown  before,  another  army  to  India,  when  India  was  all  in 
revolt.  With  the  return  of  peace,  these  same  vessels,  so  prompt  to  an- 
swer the  demand  of  Great  Britain,  and  her  ally  in  time  of  war,  are  found 
ready  to  resume  their  places  in  the  carrying  trade  of  the  country,  or  in 
filling  up  new  lines  of  communication  then  ready  to  be  opened. 

A  change  has  thus  been  going  on  quietly,  yet  effectively,  in  the  domin- 
ion of  the  seas ;  and,  as  a  consequence  of  the  great  demand  for  ocean 
steamers,  the  utmost  activity  has  prevailed  along  the  banks  of  the  Clyde 
and  the  Tyne,  while,  for  years,  our  shipyards  from  Maryland  to  Maine 
have  been  deserted  or  comparatively  lifeless. 

Your  memorialists  are  aware  that  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  that  has 
led  to  such  results  has  been  questioned ;  but,  however  doubted,  it  has 
been  always  pursued  with  a  determination  that  has  never  faltered ;  till 
at  length,  the  commerce  of  England,  vitalized  in  all  its  parts,  has  attained 
a  degree  of  prosperity  without  a  parallel  in  history.  The  system  pur- 
sued by  England  is  now  being  imitated  by  France  and  other  powers. 

At  one  time  it  seemed  to  be  the  purpose  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment to  adopt  and  continue  a  similar  policy ;  to  give  to  its  merchants 
mail  facilities  co-extensive  with  their  wants ;  to  permit  their  mariners  to 
go,  side  by  side,  along  all  the  highways  of  the  sea,  upon  equal  terms  with 
those  of  the  most  favored'  nation.  To  restore  to  our  mercantile  marine 
its  lost  prestige ;  to  re-instate  it  in  a  supremacy  which  was  once  unques- 
tioned, it  needed  only  that  measure  of  support  which  Great  Britain  and 
France  have  rendered  to  theirs.  Whatever  doctrines  about  free  trade 
prevail  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  or  this,  your  memorialists  re- 
spectfully urge,  that,  so  long  as  the  mail  service  of  England  and  France  is 
maintained  by  Imperial  subsidies,  the  government  of  the  United  States 
will  be  compelled  to  imitate  their  liberality  or  submit  to  a  mortifying 
alternative. 

Your  memorialists  are  not  unmindful  that  some  years,  ago  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States  did,  for  a  time,  yield  to  the  pressure  of  public 
opinion  in  this  regard,  and,  that  under  the  influence  of  temporary  appro- 
priations, a  line  of  steamers  was  established  to  run  from  this  city  to 
Liverpool — such  steamers  as  have  never  yet  been  surpassed  for  speed,  for 
strength,  for  power  or  for  eflBciency ;  that,  for  a  time,  they  were  the  boast 


6  Steam  Communication 

of  our  seamen  and  the  delight  of  the  American  traveller;  unfortunate, 
indeed,  and  through  much  misfortune  unsuccessful ;  sustained  while  the 
support  that  brought  them  into  existence  was  continued,  and  finally  with- 
drawn from  the  ocean,  if  not  to  perish,  to  become  valueless  at  the  wharves 
of  this  city — a  spectacle  to  sadden  and  sicken  the  hearts  of  all  to  whom 
they  had  once  been  a  source  of  exultation  and  pride.  Your  memorialists 
are  aware  that  other  lines  were  formed  to  Bremen  and  Jlavre,  and  that 
under  able  management,  the  latter  still  continues  to  run  unaided,  or  re- 
ceiving only  ocean  and  inland  postage,  while  a  few  private  steamers  are 
enabled  to  teep  the  sea  during  the  summer  season. 

From  this  survey  so  brief,  yet  so  unsatisfactory ;  from  this  contrast  so 
unwillingly  drawn  between  the  far-seeing  wisdom  of  the  British  govern- 
ment and  the  short-sightedness  of  our  own,  your  memoralists  gladly  turn 
to  the  consideration  of  the  subject  which  is  the  more  immediate  purpose 
of  this  appeal. 

The  time  seems  to  have  fully  come  when  the  attention  of  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States  should  be  directed  to  the  establishment  of  a 
line  of  mail  steamers  through  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  popu- 
lous countries  of  the  Eastern  world. 

On  one  side  are  California  and  Oregon,  with  their  long  line  of  sea-coast ; 
States  abounding  in  mineral  wealth,  with  a  most  productive  soil,  and 
forests  boundless  in  extent ;  on  the  other  the  populous  empires  of  Japan 
and  China,  the  Philippine  Islands,  Java  and  Australia,  all  as  accessible  to 
the  merchants  of  this  country,  by  a  western  route,  as  they  now  are  to 
those  of  the  old  countries  by  existing  lines  of  communication. 

Should  a  line  of  steamers  be  formed  from  San  Francisco  to  China,  a 
connection  with  the  other  important  places  indicated  will  become  natural 
and  easy.  To  such  a  consummation  the  signs  of  the  times  unmistakably 
point — lines  of  rail-road,  running  from  the  Atlantic,  projected,  if  not 
decreed ;  an  overland  mail,  which,  passing  through  the  wilderness,  and 
over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  seeks  anew  issue  beyond  the  sea ;  but,  stronger 
than  all  else,  the  will  of  a  progressive  and  energetic  race.  These  are 
tokens  of  the  future. 

Such  a  line  is  needed  to  turn  the  tide  of  correspondence  which  now 
sets  hither  and  thither,  through  the  China  Sea,  the  Indian  Ocean,  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  and,  via  France  and  England,  across  the  Atlantic,  by 
a  more  direct  route  to  and  from  San  Francisco.  It  is  needed,  if  the 
people  of  the  United  States  would  strengthen,  by  ties  of  mutual 
intercourse  and  mutual  interest,  the  bonds  ®f  peace  and  amity  so 
lately  formed  with  the  empire  of  Japan;  if  they  would  open  up 
to   the  fullest  extent  the   vast  resources  of    China,    an    empire   so  ca- 


Between  San  Francisco  and  China.  *I 

pacious  to  take  of  our  produce  and  manufactures,  and  so  rich  to  return  in 
kind ;  if,  by  exchanging  the  gold  and  silver  of  California  for  the  silks 
and  teas  of  both  empires,  the  American  merchants  would  be,  to  some  ex- 
tent, independent  of  foreign  bankers  and  foreign  credits  ;  and,  above  all, 
if  holding  the  truths  of  Christianity  as  precious,  the  people  of  the  United 
States  would  give  the  missionary  speedy  access  to  his  chosen  field  of 
labor,  to  the  scene  of  much  toil  and  sacrifice  in  the  past,  and  of  large 
promise  in  the  future.  If  all  these  things  are  desirable,  such  a  line  is 
needed. 

To  such  a  line,  the  silver  of  Mexico,  Chili  and  Peru,  which  reaches 
China  through  along  and  expensive  route,  would  soon  become  tributary  ; 
and  so,  too,  would  the  gold  of  Australia,  drawn  to  England  via  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  by  that  law  of  commerce  which  makes  the  shortest 
route  the  best. 

Your  memoralists  invite  the  attention  of  Congress  to  this  noble  enter- 
prise, because  it  cannot  be  accomplished  without  the  aid  of  government ; 
and  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  it  are  national ;  because,  if  it  is  wise 
to  spend  millions  annually,  in  time  of  peace,  for  the  defence  of  our  com- 
merce in  the  event  of  war,  it  seems  to  be  wise  to  appropriate  the  public 
money  towards  building  up  a  mercantile  marine,  which  has  been  proved 
to  be  as  valuable  in  war  as  in  peace.  And  your  memoralists  pray,  that 
this  great  step  in  our  country's  progress  may  not  be  deferred  to  another 
day,  and  the  honor  of  it  to  another  Congress ;  but  that  a  sufiicient  sub- 
sidy be  granted  to  any  company  that  will  undertake  to  perform  the  ser- 
vice in  question  under  proper  guarantees  and  conditions. 


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